1. OSCAR Pistorius will walk free from prison in August, having served just 10 months in jail for killing his girlfriend.
Pistorius, a double amputee who represented South Africa at both the Paralympic and Olympic games, was found guilty last year of culpable homicide and sentenced to five years for killing Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013.
He told the court that he shot Reeva through a closed bathroom door, having mistaken her for an intruder. He was not wearing his prosthetic legs at the time and felt vulnerable. South Africa is a notoriously dangerous place, and home invasions are commonplace.
The judge found him at best negligent, for not checking to see who was behind the door, and now a prison committee has recommended he serve the rest of his term under house arrest, as a reward for his good behaviour.
Reeva’s still-grieving family have released a statement online, which claims 10 months isn’t long enough:
“We have forgiven Mr Pistorius, even though he took the life of our precious daughter Reeva. Our lives will never be the same as we live with the sadness of her death every day. Reeva had so much to offer this world and we were all robbed of her life when she was killed. As her family we do not seek to avenge her death and we do not want Mr Pistorius to suffer, that will not bring her back to us. However, a person found guilty of a crime must be held accountable for their actions. Statistics show that our society is under continuous attack from criminals and murderers. Incarceration of 10 months for taking a life is simply not enough. We fear this will not send out the proper message and serve as the deterrent that it should.”
2. TONY Abbott has not changed his mind about same-sex marriage and he likely never will. So said Tony’s gay sister, Christine Forster, on the ABC’s Q&A last night.
Ms Forster, who was once married to the father of her four children, and who is now in a same-sex relationship, said Tony had never changed his mind about marriage being between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others.
Christine would like to marry her new partner, who was a fellow Mum at the school some of the kids went to, and she spoke eloquently on the subject, rejecting claims by a woman in the audience that “children miss out” when they are raised by couples in same-sex relationships.
“Obviously you cannot have a child without a biological mother and a biological father,” said Christine, but the “important thing” was to raise children in “loving, supportive families.”
She made the point that single parent families – usually Mums – had put up with that kind of criticism for years, too, despite many of them doing a great job with their kids. As for Tony, she said: “He has a very clearly stated and strongly held view that [marriage is between a man and a woman] and I respectfully disagree with him.”
3. How much would you pay to sit next to drunk party girl, Kate Moss, on a budget airline?
Well, it seems not everyone thinks that Kate is so great.
British newspapers are beside themselves this morning after Kate was called up for “disruptive” behaviour on an EasyJet flight home from Turkey over the weekend.
Passengers say Kate was refused alcohol, so helped herself to some of her own vodka from her cabin bag. Police met the aircraft after she is alleged to have called the pilot a “basic b*tch” which is British slang for an ordinary sort of person.
More than one person said Kate’s behaviour was not altogether over the top, although clearly not everyone was amused. She also played hairdresser with a little girl sitting in the next seat.
4. More than 170 Australian women were recognised for their achievements in the Queen’s Birthday honours list.
Recipients included East Timor’s former First Lady, Kirsty Sword Gusmao, who now lives in Melbourne, for her work with East Timorese children, particularly in the area of health and education.
Olympic basketballer Lauren Jackson, and one of Australia’s most powerful female bureaucrats, Jane Halton, were recognized, as was Professor Judith Ann Clements for her work with prostate cancer; Cheryl Ruth Barker for nurturing the next generation of opera singers; and philanthropist Paula Fox for her work with a range of arts, youth and social welfare organizations.
The complete list can be accessed here
5. Would you like to have dinner in New York with Hugh Jackman?
Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop clearly knows the answer to that question.
She’s organised a dinner with Hugh, her good self, and Hugh’s vivacious wife, Deborra-lee Furness in New York, and she’s thrown in a business class ticket flying Qantas.
The catch?
You have to bid for it.
The prize is one of several on offer at this year’s Canberra press gallery midwinter ball.
Other items up for bids include breakfast at Kirribilli House with Tony Abbott, and a home-cooked meal at Malcolm Turnbull’s place in Canberra.
Charities set to benefit include Soldier On, The Indigenous Reading Project, Lifeline Australia, Spinal Cure Australia, Open Family Australia, The Newborn Intensive Care Foundation, the Smith Family’s Learning for Life Program, Burn Foundation Australia and The Fred Hollows Foundation.
6. She was Australia’s first female prime minister, yet not one commercial network wants to show a tele-movie about Julia Gillard, starring Rachel Griffiths?
The Daily Telegraph reports that “every local network, cable broadcaster and digital streaming service” has rejected the drama.
Executive producer Richard Keddie tells the Tele he’s now “making the story for the big screen” after being knocked back by all local TV channels. He said network bosses were worried about “perceived negative public opinion” about Gillard.
“They think the public were sick of the story and no one will watch this show,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ABC’s The Killing Season, about Rudd v Gillard, goes to air tonight and it’s likely to be a rating bonanza.
7. What makes a woman? Is it chromosomes? Secondary sex characteristics? Or lived experience?
The New York Times has published a strong argument in favour of the latter, saying statements by transgender woman Caitlyn Jenner, who appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair this month, about how she, as a woman, now loves wearing nail polish and going shopping, trivialize the lived experience of many women.
Writer and Oscar winning producer Elinor Burkett says: “I have fought for many of my 68 years against efforts to put women — our brains, our hearts, our bodies, even our moods — into tidy boxes, to reduce us to hoary stereotypes.”
She says Caitlyn’s happiness about being able to wear nail polish all the time is “the kind of nonsense that was used to repress women for centuries” arguing that women’s brains are formed by their experience.
She notes that Jenner – formerly a gold medal athlete at the Olympic games – and other transgender women “have not suffered through business meetings with men talking to their breasts or woken up after sex terrified they’d forgotten to take their birth control pills the day before. They haven’t had to cope with the onset of their periods in the middle of a crowded subway, the humiliation of discovering that their male work partners’ checks were far larger than theirs, or the fear of being too weak to ward off rapists.”
These, she says, are the experiences that shape women.
She rejected Caitlyn Jenner’s “idea of a woman” describing it as “cleavage-boosting corset, sultry poses, thick mascara and the prospect of regular “girls’ nights” of banter about hair and makeup.”
8. IT sounds like a film script, but it’s real: two convicted murderers have tunnelled out of a high security prison in New York.
The two men tricked guards with dummies made out of old sweaters, and used power tools to drill out of their beds.
In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” New York governor Andrew M. Cuomo said it wasn’t clear how men had a) found the tools and b) managed to drill through steel walls, pipes and stone walls to get beyond the prison walls.
“I chatted with a couple of the inmates myself and said, ‘You must be a very heavy sleeper,’ ” the governor said. “They were heard, they had to be heard.”
9. More than 100 mourners have attended a funeral for Game of Thrones visual effects artist Katherine Chappel, killed by a lion in South Africa last week.
Katherine, 29, was killed when she opened the window of her car to take a picture of the lion, which was on the ground.
It stood up, and reached into the car. Eyewitnesses said Katherine’s face, chest and shoulder were torn in the attack
The guide, Pierre Potgieter, 66, suffered a heart attack and is hospitalized after what he called “the worst experience’’ of his life.
Besides Game of Thrones, Katherine, who was volunteering at a different wildlife reserve in South Africa, worked on Captain America and Godzilla.
10. Visitors to the US this northern summer, please note: the Staten Island ferry – which takes in views of the Statue of Liberty and the island of Manhattan – is free.
Repeat, free. It’s been free forever.
So don’t let anyone dupe you into paying $400 for a scenic round trip on the thing.
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